Arkansas' players from left: Jared Gates, Dominic Fletcher (24), Jake Reindl (34) and Grant Koch celebrate after an NCAA College World Series baseball game against Texas Tech in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 20,

Arkansas' players from left: Jared Gates, Dominic Fletcher (24), Jake Reindl (34) and Grant Koch celebrate after an NCAA College World Series baseball game against Texas Tech in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 20,

Texas Tech pushed to the brink of elimination with loss to Arkansas at CWS

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OMAHA, Neb. – The ball should never have touched grass. Gabe Holt and Cody Farhart should never have collided, allowing the ball to touch grass. And Florida should not have been gifted two runs in a first inning that by all rights should have ended with that ball safely falling into the glove of either Holt or Farhart.

Maybe Arkansas would still have beaten Texas Tech even if that first inning blunder never occurred, but the miscommunication turned Arkansas center fielder Dominic Fletcher's routine fly ball into a two-out, two-run double that the Razorbacks used as a springboard. The Red Raiders never recovered from the miscue, falling to the Razorbacks, 7-4, at TD Ameritrade Park in a game delayed for 2 hours, 30 minutes by rain.

"First of all, I'll take full responsibility for that," Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock said of his outfielders ramming into one another. "I mean, we made that change (in) Game 48. We put a guy at second base that had played right field. Put a guy that played right field at second base. And really hadn't bit us up to this point. Both of them played really well.

"I think they were both trying to make a play as far as I don't think Gabe heard Cody. I think if he does, he lets him catch it. But that's on me. Really that's a deal where maybe we need to do some more outfield communication. That's something that you can do and it's something that's fundamental. When you break down fundamentally, that's on the coaches."

Tadlock moved Holt into right field on May 17, after the freshman had made 47 starts at second base. Sophomore Brian Klein replaced Holt in the infield after making 19 starts in right.

But the entirety of the loss can't be placed solely on one play. Texas Tech had chances to climb back into the game.

Holt singled off Arkansas starter Kacey Murphy to leadoff the bottom of the first, and Klein got aboard on a mishandled bunt. But Murphy struck out Josh Jung and Grant Little, then got Zach Rheams to pop out to end the inning with both baserunners still stranded. In the second inning, freshman outfielder Heston Kjerstad nearly face-planted into the left-field wall, but managed to remain upright and steal a potential RBI double from Farhat.

While Texas Tech struggled to make serious inroads, the Razorbacks kept pounding away.

In the top of the second, Texas Tech starter Davis Martin left an offspeed pitch over the plate which Jared Gates turned into a solo home run, putting Arkansas ahead 3-0. Two innings later, Fletcher turned on a high fastball and sent it sailing over the right-field fence, over the bullpen, nearly into the videoboard.

Martin's day ended four batters later after Jax Biggers drove in the Razorbacks' fifth run on a single to right field. Over 3 2/3 innings, he allowed five earned runs, six hits, and struck out six.

"We were going to pitch to our strength, sinkers away, change-ups, mix early and often," Martin said. "You gotta give them credit. They have a great lineup. I think both home runs were mistakes."

Arkansas added two final runs in the eighth on RBI singles from Shaddy and Fletcher.

Texas Tech picked up two runs in the fifth on Klein's RBI double, and added two more on Farhart's two-run single in the ninth. But Arkansas' three pitchers – Murphy, Barrett Loseke, and Matt Cronin – kept TTU's offense mostly contained. The trio surrendered only six hits and struck out 14.

"Arkansas' got a really nice club," Tadlock said. "Got a really nice lineup. They threw three really quality arms at us. And they played awful good. They earned the right to win."

Texas Tech on Thursday will face a Florida team it already defeated in Omaha, 6-3. A win would grant Tadlock's group another shot at Arkansas, this time with a trip to the best-of-three finals on the line.

But after the Gators erased Texas from the CWS with a 6-1 win Tuesday, the tournament's top seed will be favored heading into the elimination game.

Tadlock doesn't mind.

"The neat thing is nobody's picking us to beat Florida or Arkansas," Tadlock said. "And we're going to show up tomorrow and try to earn that right.